Bull City Rising

Updates: McPherson Townhouses, West Point Park in the Herald-Sun

The local press has updates in today's paper on two stories we've looked at here at BCR recently:

First, Monica Chen provides an update from Monday's design design review team looking at the McPherson Townhouses. As noted here last week, the response from neighbors to date was well described by the H-S as cautious optimism, with a representative of the Neighbors for Sustainable Development in Trinity Park citing positive elements of the design and the Trinity Park Neighborhood Association noting that a committee is reviewing the plans.

The townhouse proposal will next make its way to the Development Review Board. (Jim Wise from the N&O also has an update in today's edition.)

Also up: Ray Gronberg has the Herald-Sun's take on the debate over the 60-acre tract of land just south of West Point Park on the Eno, a site that's been at the center of a minor tempest over the dual possibilities of the city in partnership with other groups buying and preserving the open area -- or of the state doing so in exchange for control over the City-managed West Point Park.

New items from the story: City Councilman Mike Woodard notes the landowner's threat to sue local government if the land is downzoned (which would otherwise be one very, very low cost way of keeping dense development off the sensitive land.) Also, it looks like the landowner and her development partner have optioned land from a local church that would provide access to the land from Roxboro -- a development that makes it easier for the long-time property holder to develop the tract.

Most parties we've talked to, including City Councilwoman Diane Catotti, have signalled an openness to looking at the possibility of state control for the park, but given it seems the ongoing nature of the dialogue, most of the stakeholders involved aren't interested in giving too many specifics just yet on the idea. Expect significant caution from city staff and possibly officials over the prospect of giving up what local officials see as a jewel of the park system.

More on these as we learn about 'em.

Morreene's revenge? CN zoning looks to take a more intensive review route

One of the more unfortunate legacies of Frank Duke's reign over the City/County Planning department was a moment that might best be described as "reign of error" -- the approval of a large warehouse for a wholesale business on the site of a former Morreene Rd. restaurant.

The presence of such a business (or its large industrial structure) wasn't exactly in keeping, neighbors argued, with the intent of the parcel's Commercial Neighborhood zoning, which supports allowing "limited commercial uses to satisfy the needs of the surrounding neighborhood." The Turnage Heights neighborhood appealed the city's approval of the warehouse development, losing before the Board of Adjustment in April.

Jim Wise's coverage of that hearing in the N&O raised the broader issue about Commercial Neighborhood (CN) zoning could lead to such a structure's erection, however:

"[The case] demonstrates some real problems and concerns that need to be addressed," said interim City Attorney Karen Sindelar....

"This case highlights the need for a more neighborhood-friendly commercial zone next to a residential area," [activist John[ Schelp said, "[and] clearly shows how important a neighborhood advocate, not a liaison, an advocate, can be....

"At the very least," [resident Will Robinson] wrote in an e-mail response to a reporter's question, "we may have played a large part in sparing other neighborhoods the same injustice we've experienced, and that is no small consolation."

Looks like the experience may indeed help out other neighborhoods struggling with this sort of conflict. City/County Planning staff have proposed another in the ongoing series of text amendments to the Unified Development Ordinance, this time focused on -- you guessed it -- CN zoning.

And the proposed changes, set for discussion at August 4's City Council meeting, give the sense that the Morreene Rd. debacle was front-and-center in staff's mind in proposing these changes.

Costly Jordan Lake clean-up rules hit an interesting speed bump

North Carolina's Rules Review Commission met Thursday to look over the state Environmental Management Commission's proposed rules for cleaning up Jordan Lake -- a key part of state government's initiative to force clean-up of the manmade lake, an effort that's drawn criticism from local governments for shifting the cost (hundreds of millions of dollars in Durham's case) back to cities and counties as an unfunded mandate.

According to the Burlington Times-News, which has the story as its lead article in today's paper (the H-S and N&O, oddly, don't appear to have covered this)--

The state Rules Review Commission Thursday sent the Jordan Lake proposals back to the Environmental Management Commission for revision. The panel questioned the authority of the proposed rules to require local governments to adopt certain ordinances. It also cited ambiguity in the environmental proposals.

The Environmental Management Commission will have the opportunity in coming weeks to tighten up the rules and bring them back for further review. That would likely come at the Rules Review Commission's September meeting.

Most of the speakers, including representatives from the City of Durham and other local governments, opposed the proposed rules. (One speaker in favor was Elaine Chiosso, of the Haw River Association, an organization that's been a strong advocate for Haw River and Jordan Lake clean-up.)

Two other interesting pieces of data in the Times-News article:

• Because over 10 letters of protest have been received on this administrative rule, the issue must be reviewed by the General Assembly in their 2009 session; the legislature could choose to disapprove the rules or work out alternative regulations, something the body did with coastal stormwater issues last year.
• According to the Durham representative, 50% of the stormwater systems in Durham are not owned by the municipality. That includes, we presume, many neighborhoods whose stormwater management systems are under the aegis of homeowners' associations, and whose dues are intended in part to be used for system maintenance and improvement. Should these rules come to pass, with the City fund improvements -- or will residents of many neighborhoods face surprising assessments to complete the work? Pure speculation on our part, but an issue to watch as this one moves through the legislative grinder.

Bill Fields dreams up renovation -- on a budget -- down on Gregson St.

I realize most BCR readers are faithful patrons of Gary Kueber's excellent Endangered Durham blog, but for the couple who aren't -- this is too good to miss.

As Gary noted, Saturday's issue of The Durham News contains a story by David Newton on the inimitable Bill Fields -- Ninth Street property owner, veteran, and self-proclaimed lover of Durham -- and his plans to renovate the long-dormant Medical Arts building.

(This building, featured earlier by Gary at ED, has sat vacant for many years, though it did garner some local attention for its large "Fred Smith for Governor" signs back during the May primary; Fields' son worked for the Johnston Co. homebuilder and one-time gubernatorial candidate.)

H-S: Struever Bros. faces $1m in liens on American Tobacco work

Today's Herald-Sun has a very good two-article story by business reporter Monica Chen on a subject that's been turning up more and more grumbling of late in the downtown community: the financial health of the American Tobacco Phase II renovations, headed by Baltimore developer Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse.

As Chen points out, while other downtown developers have finished up their recent work and gotten their subcontractors paid in a fairly timely fashion, some subcontractors are claiming that SBER still owes them big time for their work since 2006 on the project.

The businesses claim that Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse, the Baltimore-based company redeveloping the historic tobacco factory buildings, owed them a total of $1.3 million and more for work done from 2006 to 2008. Of that, the company has resolved about $343,000 with interest and attorneys' fees.

Ken Reiter, senior development director with Struever Bros., said the company will pay the rest upon completion of the Old Bull building. Construction problems there have led to delays -- the source of Struever Bros.' financial problems, he said....

Wake's Little River decision: Durham's ant meets Wake's grasshopper?

Once upon a time, yea though it was many eons ago, the people of the kingdom called Triangle did suffer through an abomination of dryness. For lo, the rains did not come for a fortnight, or a fortnight next, and so forth. And the town crier declared, "It will be to the bottled water with all of you!"

Yea, though, the skies finally broke, and the water did flow, and it was cool and good; and, verily, it madeth Ted Voorhees sweat less, and Sir Eugene Brown turn a lighter shade of pink. And the good people of the shire of Derm and their neighbors did follow good water practices forever more.

--Of course, it really wasn't so long ago that the drought happened. Heck, by some definitions we're still in a period of extreme dryness.

But why does it seem that Ye Olde County of Wake seems to think that the drought was just a fairy tale from olden days?

The Wake County Commissioners unanimously voted down a proposal to restrict development along the Little River after dozens of people turned out Monday against the plan.

The vote is a defeat for Raleigh officials who argued that the restrictions would improve the city's chances of getting regulatory approval to build the proposed Little River Reservoir in the county's northeast corner....

"I don't want to send the message that the Little River Reservior isn't important. It is," Commissioner Paul Coble said. "But it's not so important that we leave the public out." [...]

"We don't have as good a story to tell to the regulators," [Raleigh public utilities director Dale] Crisp said. "But we're going to tell them a story."

Hmmm, a story to tell. Maybe you could tell 'em that fairy tale about the drought. I hear that's a good one.

Wait, you know what would make a better story, Mr. Crisp. How about the one about the grasshopper and the ant?

INC to consider resolution on development practices

Development practices in the Bull City have been under a microscope in recent months, from two very different perspectives.

On the one hand, the City Council has been working with staff on a development review process to address complaints, usually from developers, that plan review and approval is an over-lengthy, and sometimes unpredictable, process open to a great deal of staff interpretation.

On the other hand, residents, particularly those in less-settled eastern and southern Durham County, have been raising louder and louder concerns about suburban development practices such as mass grading, stormwater, and water source protection.

In the wake of last year's drought -- and the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources' attempt to pin Jordan/Falls Lake cleanup costs on municipalities over their development practices, an action contested by Durham but which could cost north of $340 million for cleanup -- these latter complaints are getting more scrutiny than ever before.

One local player looks to come to the forefront in the next month: Durham's Inter-Neighborhood Council, which will consider in July a draft resolution intended to impact residential development practices in the county.

H-S gets Royal Ice Cream owner's sons' perspective on sit-in

Ah, the media obsession with the satanic-cult-assault story continues to reach new heights, getting top coverage in the H-S, the N&O ("He never showed me any kind of devil-worshipping stuff...." "You'd see him wear black pants and a T-shirt with weird stuff on it, but it wasn't that different."), and all the local TV stations. Heck, WTVD was out front of the Durham County Courthouse at 5:30am this morning to report on the case. (What, are there some kind of magic pentagrams that only come out in morning's early light?)

Still, the best read in this morning's paper lies in Herald-Sun newcomer Lisa Rossi's exclusive interview with Joe and Andy Porcelli, sons of the late owner of Royal Ice Cream, who reflect back on the difficult time in Durham's history and their take on the Jim Crow days:

On one hand, they said they were proud Royal Ice Cream would always live on in a highway marker.

But they stung from descriptions of their father's ice cream store that emerged as part of the publicity around the commemoration....

"I'm glad segregation is over with," Andy Porcelli said. "It was a painful experience for both parties: Black and white."

Kudos to the H-S for finding room on the front page for a story that sheds a new perspective on the now-infamous event at Royal Ice Cream. It would have been too bad to see the salacious always outmuscle the sublime.

Lewis Shiner's "Black and White" fictionalizes Durham's hard Hayti story

The story of race relations in Durham are a frequently told tale, from the well-told story "The Best of Enemies" to the recent documentary film "Durham: A Self-Portrait."

Now it's time for Raleigh-based graphic novelist and writer Lewis Shiner to get into the act with a novel, "Black and White," published this month by Subterranean Press.

The novel -- which is prominently featured at The Regulator on Ninth St., which will host a reading with Shiner next Friday, July 11 -- mixes modern-day and urban renewal-period Durham, telling a family's story intermingled with a fictionalized tale of race relations in the difficult South during the civil rights era. As the Los Angeles Times' Sarah Weinman writes in her book review this Sunday:

The novel's quiet start introduces Michael, an Austin, Texas-based fledgling comic book illustrator who, at age 35, thinks himself "too old . . . to spend this much time with his parents" even as his career and romantic prospects leave him with limited options. The terminal cancer diagnosis of Robert, his father, and Robert's insistence on spending his dying days in Durham, N.C., give Michael a new purpose and bring him back to his birthplace, where he will hear his dad's last confession: involvement in a murder four decades ago in the heart of the once-bustling black Durham neighborhood of Hayti, which has lain fallow ever since, after deeply embedded racial hatred brought it down in flames during a riot.

The admission opens a Pandora's box of twists that shred Michael's supposed origins to ribbons and are revealed in a mixture of lengthy flashbacks and multiple viewpoints growing seamlessly out of Shiner's narrative. The tiered structure presents, with startling emotional acuity, an array of characters and allows the reader to see them in their truthful, monstrous, sympathetic glory.

Although the N&O was a little more mixed in its praise for the novel in its own review, printed in Sunday's paper, the early buzz on the book ("Motherless Brooklyn" author Jonathan Lethem calls it "both a page-turner and an urban documentary with a big, fierce heart") coupled with its Bull City canvas make it natural summer reading for Durhamites looking to see a more-fictional perspective on our hometown.

If you've had a chance to read the just-released novel, post your thoughts here in the comments; I'll add my own once I've had a chance to pick up and digest the book myself.

New owners close on Kings Daughters Inn, start construction this week

It's official: as we hinted at here last week, Colin and Deanna Crossman did officially close on the sale of the Kings Daughters Inn late last week.

The Buchanan Ave. old age home -- which is under covenants requiring the preservation of its historic appearance and prohibit its use for undergraduate housing -- is on its way to becoming a bed and breakfast at the edge of Duke's East Campus.

The list price for the home was a cool $2.5 million. Factor in another $1 million plus for renovations to the aging but grand structure and you're looking at a substantial investment on the west end of Trinity Park.

KeySource Bank here in Durham handled the financing for the project, providing capital funding at a crucial time amidst a national credit crunch.

The Crossmans held a kick-off party for friends and project supporters this weekend, but that'll be the last time the KDI is open to the public until the renovations complete next spring. Expect the so-called "moon suits" to enter in the next few days to begin asbestos abatement and the like as the first phase of renovation.